***Author’s Note:***
Looking at all the Kido hate from last chapter... I don't know whether to laugh or to cry. On one hand, I'm commending myself over achieving my original goal, I mean, getting all of you to hate a character whose literally done nothing wrong at this point in the story is a pretty hard thing to achieve. On the other hand... I may have done too good of a job... haha. Well, whatever goes, goes, I guess.
Fixing some things from last chapter. The teacher’s level only rose by 1, The childhood friend only rose by 3 levels, transfer student by 5 levels. Kido leveled up to 17. People were complaining last chapter about Kido rising too fast in level. Although that was clearly intentional, I adjusted it.
****
Archive Meeting
When we arrived at the Archive room, the first thing I did was designate a few of the cafeteria group survivors to surveillance.
In general, the people from the cafeteria… those who survived up until this point were basically useless. They might be level two, but that was not through their own effort. Even though they certainly had the will to survive, they did not have the courage to take action. They were people possessing the mindset that “someone will eventually come to save us”. I could only look at people like that as burdens.
Even as meat shields, they were worthless due to how innately fragile they were. Even if they placed all their stats into vitality, they would not last even 5 seconds against the remaining monsters in the dungeon.
At the very least, placing a few of them on surveillance will put them to use. Even if my range of perception is far wider than what their eyes/ears/etc. can pick up, at the very least, it will introduce them to the idea of “constant danger”. If that sort of exposure can somehow change their way of thinking and motivate them… then I might be able to put them to use in the future.
I had the fatty from earlier and another survivor, a braided girl with a somewhat cute appearance, as look out within the 3rd floor. I ordered them to warn me the moment the horde returned. I especially warned them about monsters appearing on the 3rd floor, and told them to makes such an event a priority.
In addition, I also told them to pluck the feathers out of the Avian corpses, and to process and collect their meat. Avian feathers are unaturally durable, and during combat, an Avian can consciously harden its feathers to the point where they can cut through flesh and tear through muscle. If I can somehow mimic that feature, or find a way to create weapons or armor out of its feathers, then it would surely assist in future battles. As for the meat, while we’ve never actually tried eating other monsters aside from the tusk boars, they might prove to be a new source of food for the coming future.
After briefly explaining the proper process of collecting and harvesting the meat to the two people I assigned, I returned to the Archive room.
There, I was greeted with curious stares that held varying emotions, ranging from expectancy, hesitance, and outright anger.
I did not pay those stares any mind though. After glancing over at Cielle, and the others, and making sure Cher and Cielle’s conditions hadn’t worsened. I took a foldable chair and sat down next to my recently collected weapons near a corner of the room.
Using this time, I decided to check my status.
[Status!]
Status WindowNameMayo HideAge17RaceHumanLevel37GenderMaleTitlesPioneer, PyschopathHealth115/460 (31)Health Regen.0.005 / SecMana
(unavailable)460 (16)Mana Regen.0.01 / SecStamina80/460 (16)Stamina Regen.0.05 / Sec-Strength101 (16)Agility167 (16)Vitality90 (16)Dexterity119 (16)Intelligence26 (16)Wisdom62 (16)Leadership0 (8)Luck0 (8)Defense20 (16)Accuracy20 (16)-SkillsEquip (Active)
Identification (Active)
All Heal (Active)
Dissection(Active)
Sensory Remapping + (Active)
Hard Scale (Active)
All Purpose Crafting (Active)
Butcher (Active)
Shadow Sprint (Active)
Amphibian (Active)
Body Maneuver (Passive)
Dagger Mastery (Passive)
Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive)Current Status Effect(s)n/aUnallocated Points0
In total, tonight I acquired 115 unallocated points. 30 each for the Minotaur and Ipotane elites, 20 from the Monarch Wisp, 25 from the Mimic, and 10 from two level ups. Back then, before the second phase of the dungeon initiated, I somehow managed to level up with the experience that the three elites, and Satou gave when they died, so in actuality, when I gained a level from the Dungeon phase change, it was as if I gained 2 levels instead of one.
Out of the 115, I allocated the majority of it in the Amphitheatre to agility and vitality, back when I first received the call regarding Satou. Following that, I placed the rest in a somewhat uneven distribution between agility, vitality, wisdom (for the reaction speed boost), and strength.
As I was inspecting my panel, somebody walked up to me.
“Where did you get those, Hide?”
I dismissed my status window, and looked up, only to see Cielle’s too close face looking at me. Her eyes, which were covered by their usual curtain of hair had a distinct glimmer to them, while her face was showing a thin smile that most people would associate as apathetic. Although, despite what her expression might suggest, I felt that Cielle was a bit more… positive than usual.
She was looking over at the two weapons I had recently collected from my earlier fight.
I briefly gave an explanation, stating, “These were the weapons I didn’t get the opportunity to bring back with me when I went grinding earlier tonight.”
Cielle was quiet for a moment, her eyes locked sternly on the weapons that lay stacked against the wall. Eventually, after 3 seconds of silence, her eyebrows raised while a small sign of surprise floated to her usually passive expression.
“Weapon Skills?”
Hearing her mutter out loud the expression, I nodded briefly. “Yeah. Although right now, only Hina and I can use them, they’ll definitely come in handy when a few of the others attain higher levels.”
Cielle nodded in agreement. Her small mouth opened slightly for a bit, before she hesitated and stopped. She paused momentarily before her delicate hand floated up and landed on top of my head. She flashed a brief smile, while her fingers ran through my embarrassingly unwashed hair.
“Good job.” She spoke simply while her hands continued to move with practiced familiarity.
I awkwardly smiled at this.
“You… you’re a bit too familiar with patting people’s heads.” I recalled several past incidences when Cielle patted Hina’s and- on occasion- Cher’s heads without reserve. Back then her actions had been so natural, and comforting that it looked almost enviable. Now that I actually got to experience the real thing… although I didn’t dislike it, it still felt a bit awkward.
As expected, having your head patted… rather, I’d like to be the one that does the patting.
“I have plenty of experience.” Cielle briefly replied as her eyes grew hazy with nostalgia. For a moment, she was lost in thought before she hastily shook her head, and refocused her gaze to meet mine. “This is… a reward. Hide’s reward.”
“... Um…” This type of reward is a bit… Although I did not voice it out loud, I still felt a bit weird receiving this (head patting) reward.
Cielle’s head slightly tilted to the side while her expression turned slightly doubtful. She hesitated for a moment before asking, “You… do you not like it?”
“....”
“...”
I broke the silence with a cough, before getting up and yelling over the crowd, “Everyone gather around the table. We need to discuss a few things.”
I brushed aside Cielle’s hand, and moved to the center of the large rectangular table at the middle of the room. As I passed her, I could not help but mutter something along the lines of “I didn’t really not like it.”
beneath my voice.
Cielle who looked as if she had overheard my quiet statement, quickly followed suit, and sat directly next to me. Although a soft smile still decorated her face, her eyes grew serious the moment she sat down.
Everyone else around the room followed suit. For some reason, while the others sat down around the table, the level 2 cafeteria group survivors all opted to stay standing along a wall of the room.
It wasn’t really an issue for me, so I didn’t comment on it.
Seeing that everyone was ready, I did not hesitate any longer, and immediately began speaking. The very first thing I asked was regarding Cher’s current condition.
“How is she?” I questioned. “Has she shown signs of waking yet?”
In response, everyone exchanged silent stares. For a brief moment, the room was silent. Nobody dared to reply regarding Cher’s condition. I looked around the room. As expected, nobody dared to meet my gaze. While I did not find this particularly surprising, Hina’s own resistance caught me off guard.
Her expression was strangely absent minded. Her neck craned downward, while her eyes locked onto the floor beneath her. She did not say anything, yet an undeniable atmosphere emanated off of her. To say it simply, she looked conflicted.
She bit her lip down, but did not say anything. I waited patiently, for her, or for anybody else to respond. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, a quiet voice from right next to me spoke. It was Cielle.
“Cher’s condition is fine. Her breathing is stable, and the color of her skin is regaining.” She noted as she shot a brief glance over at Cher’s unconscious figure. “Sometimes I see her eyelids fluttering, so she might be close to waking up.”
Hearing all this, I nodded. A heavy sigh of relief involuntarily escaped my throat.
“Then, if that’s the case, let’s move on.” I said, changing the topic before anybody else could comment on anything. I turned to address the whole table. “Although you guys spoke about it briefly to me before, explain what happened during the hunt.”
The president stepped up. Overlooking the crowd through the gleam of his glasses, he spoke in a calm, and orderly tone. His words flowed in an accustomed manner. As expected from someone in such a high position, the student council president was someone who was accustomed to giving speeches.
He briefly explained what I had already heard. Regarding how they split up the teams. Each member's kill count, the total amount of Avians they fought, any complications they had, even the way they fought.
“In the end, I rose by 3 levels, Emiko, Kathy, and Mr. Kikkawa leveled up by 2… Hina did not level up, Saya rose by 5 levels, Mindy by 3 levels, and Kido… he jumped into level 17.” The President spoke the last line with a somewhat awkward expression. A mix between shock, and disbelief.
I, myself had a similar reaction, and even though I was hearing it for the second time, I could not help but squint my eyes and sigh. I've already checked for myself with [Identify], but... his growth… it was too abnormal. The time, situation, and amount of monsters he killed to reach that sort of level… no matter how I looked at it, it was still too short. Even after factoring in the level difference between Kido and the monsters… if we were still under the effects of double experience, then it would be somewhat possible, but even then… it would be a stretch.
Not to mention, hearing the President explain the whole situation to me, I noticed one oddity. The people who I assigned to the same group as Kido… their growth was significantly lower than the others from the Prez’s team. Of course, there’s also the explanation that Kido hogged most of the Kills for his group, but still… even then, I can’t help but foster an uncomfortable irritation in the back of my mind.
I shot a subtle glance towards Kido. He was sporting a rather modest expression, while his cheeks tinged red, as he scratched his head rather awkwardly. Next to him, his girls were beaming with joyous expression plastered on their face.
If one listened closely, you could hear annoying noises like, “Ufufufu, as expected of Kido,” or “Uwaaa~ Kido’s so amazing! Amazing!”
Really, it was annoying. So annoying in fact, that I could not help but directly ask, “Kido, how did you level up so fast?”
“Um…” Upon being suddenly called out, Kido’s eyes momentarily widened, as he made a flustered expression. The act was convincing, but deep down, I could not help but feel slightly irritated upon looking at it. His motions, gestures… although they were nigh identical to the usual ones he made pre-apocalypse, I could not help but feel as if Kido’s movements were slightly more… mechanical.
“I… I don’t really know.” He consented while sighing out. A faint, somewhat bitter smile filled flashed through his face, before it was instantly replaced with a rather “resolute” expression. Kido clenched his fists as he looked at me with clear, hot blooded eyes. “I don’t know why I leveled up so fast, but, I’m glad I did. If it’s too achieve power strong enough to protect the ones I care for… then I’d gladly do anything in my power to achieve that!
Things like fighting monsters or risking my life… all that… all that means nothing! It’s trivial! I’ll-”
“Okay, okay, I get it.” I let out a tired sigh while glaring at Kido with suspicion filled eyes. The conversation only went on for less than 10 seconds, and I already felt as if it has been derailed. It was clear to me that prying any deeper would be pointless. At the very least, Kido had no intention of actually explaining.
Whether he was guilty of something, or whether he had something to hide in the first place… I could not confirm any of these things, yet, that only made the suspicion in my heart grow. To add to that, a distant memory from the first day of the apocalypse also gnawed at my concious, and I could not help feeling that the two topics were somehow related.
The memory, a scene- a mental image of a room filled with corpses… A room filled with the persistent stench of decay. Scattered amongst monster ravaged corpses, there were bodies killed by a slightly more… human touch…
“hah…”
I shook my head and let out another tired sigh, while I mentally forced myself to change topics. I did not have time to dwell on this one issue. I could not waste any more time, after all, who knows when the horde will come back.
“Enough about that.” I said. “More importantly, tell me about the monster drops. Did anything valuable appear?”
“Um…” The President crossed his arms and thought for a moment. He quietly mumbled to himself, before he spoke out in a volume loud enough for everyone to hear. “8 health potions, and 2 stamina potions dropped. There were no mana potions this time around. Although you’ve told me about their existence, I’ve personally never seen one before, so I can only imagine how rare they are….”
I nodded, and further inquired, “Did anything else drop?”
“Ah, yeah,” Although I expected a negative response, the President surprised me and affirmed. “Actually, a weapon did drop… two in fact…”
He pulled out two items from under the table. One of them was a metallic scimitar with a green hilt. The blade of the weapon measured about 2 feet in length, and curved beautifully like a crescent moon. Its silver blade gleamed with a metallic luster under the dim light.
The other weapon was near identical to the scimitar, with the exception of its color. Black. The whole thing was wreathed in black darker than the shadows that occupied the room. From the blade, to its guard, and all the way to the hilt, it was all black.
I briefly looked at it, before I activated [identify].
Wind Blade Scimitar
A sword imbued with the power of the wind. In the proper hands, it can cut apart rock, water, and even flesh.
Damage: 78 - 90
Random Critical hit rate increase by 3%
+5 strength
+15 Agility
Durability: 30/30
[Equip] Skill Bonus
+25 Agility
(???)
Level Requirement: 15
Shadow Wind Blade Scimitar
A sword imbued with the power of the wind and darkness. In the proper hands, it can cut apart rock, water, and even flesh. It has been modeled after a Wind Blade Scimitar.
Damage: 78 - 90
Random Critical hit rate increase by 3%
+3 strength
+15 Agility
+2 Vitality
Durability: 30/30
[Equip] Skill Bonus
+20 Agility
(???)
Level Requirement: 15
The weapons are good. Of course, they can’t compare to the 2 elite drops, or to my boken, but they’re definitely much better than the long sword that I had used before. What’s more, the 3% in critical hit rate is a good benefit.
“As you might have already guessed, they were dropped by an Avian and a Shadow Avian.” the President explained monotonously. Going by the tone of his voice, there was no desire within him, which was only natural, since the performance of the customized clubs he was currently using, outmatched the scimitars. A similar lack of interest circulated around the rest of the President’s party.
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I nodded my head. “Good. This will improve our combat potential.” I spoke simply, before asking, “Is there anything else?”
The President simply shook his head.
“Hmm… well, it’s good that we managed to gain a few items tonight. As for me….”
Without further explanation, I took out 2 paperback books and gently placed them onto the table in front of me. The books were of simple design, with only a singular title adorning its cover. One of the books was dyed in a deep crimson red, while the other was colored a murky green.
As expected, these books were skill books.
The moment I took these books out, everyone’s breathing momentarily faltered while their eyes shined with desire. Even without explaining, they all instinctively knew these two books were skill books.
While I there wasn’t exactly any need in showing the skill books to the others, now that I’ve come this far, I found it pointless to hide or deceive. Whether everyone found out about the existence of the skill books wasn’t important to me anymore. No matter what, I will be the one who controls the skill distribution. After all, I have the strength to back up such a task.
A quiet hush fell upon the room. For a good long while, nobody spoke. Finally, as if the tension in the room was a taut string being stretched, someone spoke out, and severed that string into two.
“That… Hide, those are skill books, right?” Hokusei horsely whispered with a gulp as his eyes locked onto the books in front of him. He could not help but stand up as he leaned over the table to catch a closer look. “How… how will you distribute them? Who-who will learn them?”
As the President’s words leaked out from his cracked mouth, the whole room entered a new octave of tension. Everyone’s eyes locked onto the skill books and the greed and desire that welled up in their hearts exponentially grew. Even the Cafeteria leechers could not help but take a step forward towards the books.
Everyone by now fully realized the importance and subsequent power of skills. They were valuable items that increased an individual’s chance of survival. More over, the image of Satou’s overpowering [Acid Clad], and explosion girl’s destructive capacity was well cemented into everyone’s hearts. To gain an ability of equal or greater power… the greed in everyone’s eyes once again intensified.
I pondered over the President’s words.
The two skills I collected tonight we’re [Magic Clad: Acid], and [Fever Burst]. Regrettably, both of them were magic skills, and magic skills were completely wasted on me. I could still learn the skill, if only to get at the Equip bonuses, but due to my restrictions, they would ultimately rot away without seeing the light of use.
It was better to give them to someone who was actually competent, and actually had the ability to use them.
Glancing around the room, I came to an abrupt decision; I will not be giving out any of these skills to anybody but the people I truly trust.
While I can assist the others in leveling up, and arm them with things like weapons, and armor, I will not, under any circumstances, give them something as valuable as skills. In this new world, skills take precedent. They are powerful abilities that can change the very outcome of a battle in a mere instant.
And more importantly, they are dangerous.
This is especially true for the acid skill. That skill is far too dangerous, and its destructive capabilities is too great for just anyone to wield.
As I thought about these things, and stared blankly at the greedy eyes around me, I thought about who to distribute the skills too.
In my mind, Hina is the one who needs it the least. Her Unique Skill [Full Element] has a lot of versatility. From its destructive potential, and to its support potential, it has almost no shortcomings. In that one skill, Hina possesses numerous sub skills, as such, she is the person who needs new skills the least.
If I were to give the acid skill to anybody, then it would obviously be to the person I trust the most. The person who's been with me the longest, and the person with the most loyalty.
There is only one such person.
Without hesitation, under everyone’s stares, I calmly gave it to the person I trusted the most.
I slid the green skill book across the table to place it in front of the person who sat besides me.
Cielle’s eyes momentarily widened, as they stared down at the green skill book in front of her. She opened her mouth, but did not say anything. She looked up and stared at me momentarily before she gazed back down and stared at the skill book once agai. Cielle hesitated, but after a while, she nodded coolly, and without a word, she received the skill book with open hands.
She immediately opened it, and began flipping through their pages. While she underwent the process of learning the new skill, I shot a quick glance back at the crowd of watchful eyes.
Envy. That was the strongest emotion that gushed out from almost everyone in the room. The only one’s who did not express such a desire we’re Hina, who only absentmindedly sat down besides Cher, and Cher, who was still unconscious.
A few gnashed their teeths, and a few eyes gleamed with dark, bitter thoughts, but in the end, nobody moved or took action. They simply watched with jealous eyes as Cielle properly learned her new skill.
While Cielle quietly read through the thin pages of the skill book, I unhesitatingly put away the remaining skill book.
This action caused a whole slew of commotion to rise from amongst the crowd.
“Hide?!” The President exasperatedly yelled, as he leaned over the table. His usual calm demeanor was replaced by a heavy sense of urgency. “You… aren’t you going to give the other skill book to someone?”
As if spurred by the President’s opening statement, the others around the room chimed in in agreement.
“Hide, think about the team.”
“Give it to someone!”
“Don’t be so selfish!”
The protests, and remarks all melded together into one congealed mass of noise and ruckus. In the face of all this, I stared unblinkingly, not responding to a single one of the jeers surrounding me.
After a while, the noise somewhat lessened, and I finally opened my mouth and remarked. “ I will give the skill book to somebody.”
As if an uneasy premonition took hold of him, the President narrowed his eyes, and with hesitation, asked, “W-who?”
“Cher.” I responded immediately. “After Cher wakes up and recovers, I’ll let her learn this skill.”
I already decided long before I entered the room that I would give one of the two skill books to Cher.
Cher fought well tonight. And obviously, to those who contribute, I will naturally reward them. Besides, a new skill may not compare, but it's a sort of reimbursement for her lost arm. Additionally, there is a high chance Cher will fall into despair the moment she wakes up and discovers she has lost her arm. After all, in a world as dangerous as this, losing one out of the four limbs a person has can be extremely detrimental, especially for Cher, whose main form of combat up until now centered on the use of two shields.
By giving her a new skill, it will somewhat lessen the impact of a lost arm, and give her a glimmer of hope. Its an indirect way of telling her that, despite everything, I still haven’t given up on her… After all, I’ve invested too much time and effort into cultivating Cher’s potential. I sure as hell won’t stand by and just watch it all crumble away due to one minor loss. I’ve already spent one skill book on her after all, if I don’t cash in on that investment, then it would be the same as losing a skill book.
With such intentions, I calmly answered the room. Ignoring everyone’s protests, and glares, I once again said, “I’m giving the skill book to Cher. Out of everyone here, she is the one most suited for it.”
The obvious dissatisfaction around the room manifested itself in everyone’s bitter expressions. Finally, as if she could not restrain herself anymore, one of the girls from Kido’s harem, the transfer student, blurted out, “But she’s…”
She did not finish, her sentence, but instead shot a quick, momentary glance towards Cher’s lying figure. Well, to be more precise, she glanced over at Cher’s missing arm.
As if it were pre rehearsed, everyone else shifted their stares, and looked onward at Cher. There eyes were cold, and penetrating, and without exception, they all focused in on Cher’s missing arm.
“She’s… she can’t possibly fight anymore…” The transfer student quietly whispered as she stared continued to stare with placid eyes.
“...”
“You-” After some time, the transfer student tore her gaze away from Cher, and looked at me with clearly defiant eyes. “You have to reconsider! There’s no good reason why she should-”
The instant she turned to look at me, her eyes locked onto my own, and under the pressure of my glare, her words faltered. Her brow inexplicably scrunched up, while the slight trickle of cold sweat flowed down her cheek. She opened her mouth, but did not speak. She hesitated, her eyes swimming in whatever emotion currently enveloped her mind, before she gritted her teeth, and clamped her mouth shot.
I looked at her for a moment, and although I tried maintaining eye contact, the transfer student broke it. She refused to look at me, as she slightly trembled and slid to her right, nuzzled up against Kido. She hid behind him, not daring to meet eyes with me for a second time.
Seeing this, I broke my own gaze, and swept my eyes across the crowd. Like the transfer student, nobody dared to make eye contact. Well, almost nobody.
There was one exception- Kido. Kido who sat almost directly in front of me continued to stare, the corners of his mouth formed a slight frown, but aside from that he did not say anything. He only continued to stare.
I broke eye contact with Kido, and lightly said, “Well, enough about the skill books.”
A question that had always bothered me began to once again surface in my mind, and I could not help but turn to stare at explosion girl, and asked, “You, where did you get that skill?”
“Huh?” The wizard hat wearing girl was caught off guard, and unintentionally, a weird sound escaped from her throat. Her unblinking eyes widened as her mouth hung loosely open.
I repeated myself, and asked, “Where did you get that explosion skill?”
This was always bothering me since I found out about her skill’s existence. An unstable power that was strong enough to generate a force so strong that it could turn concrete into mere pebbles. It was definitely a strong skill, but at the same time, in the context of this dungeon, it was highly out of place. First of all, there were no explosion based monsters within the dungeon, so that only ruled out the most common possibility. If it were another achievement related skill, then it would make sense, but frankly speaking, I could not think of any possible way for this girl to have achieved any sort of achievement that the system would back up.
“I… um,” Explosion girl’s expression faltered, as she flustered. She hesitated for a moment, her gaze shifting uncontrollably between Kido and I. Seeing her current situation, Kido let out a helpless smile, as he gently placed a hand on top of her shoulder. Kido momentarily shot me a stare, before he turned back towards Explosion girl and nodded.
Prompted by Kido’s “approval”, the wizard hat wearing girl, timidly answered, “ I-It was a drop.”
My eyes widened. The skill being a drop was something I had not even considered. Although, going by her conflicted expression, I knew full well that her explosion skill was not a simple monster drop. There was an obvious story behind it, and without goaded by curiosity, I could not help but say, “Explain.”
She tersely gulped, before she began to explain.
The skill originally belonged to another person.
The original owner of the skill was a classmate she had met during the first day of the apocalypse. Together, along with others from the east building who managed to survive the initial chaos brought about by the abrupt start of the apocalypse, they attempted to escape to the main building.
Unfortunately, during a battle against a few monsters, the classmate accidentally killed himself. He was engulfed by one of his own, self-created explosions. From how she explained it, it was an instant death. The explosion was what created the hole on the 2nd floor, and it killed almost everything within a 10 meter radius. The monsters that attacked her, as well as the classmates she escaped with, all of them died, caught up in the blast.
Explosion girl was lucky. She was outside the blast radius when the explosion occurred, and only suffered superficial injuries.
And like Satou’s death, the classmate that died dropped an explosion skill book.
“L-Like I said before,” She worriedly explained upon finishing her story, “my skill is extremely difficult to control, and the blast can diverge away from the intended target by as much as 10 feet. Even the original user died because of this skill….” As she was explaining, she looked constantly at Cielle, as if expressing some wordless apology through her fervent eyes.
I ignored her remarks, and instead thought about the original user of the skill. How exactly did he get the skill? Was it through some sort of achievement, like with how he acquired [Equip]? If so, what was that achievement? In the first place, was it even because of an achievement? Was there some other way to acquire skills outside of system achievement?... Should I kill this girl, and see if the skill will drop a 2nd time?
I thought for a while, before I once again opened my mouth. Interrupting the girl’s fervent excuses, I asked, “Did he ever explain how he got the skill?”
She momentarily paused, as her face scrunched up. She made a thoughtful expression, before carefully stating, “Well, he didn’t expressly explain it, but I did ask him once. All he said was that he had it automatically, directly after the countdown reached zero…. I don’t really think he explained how though…”
“...” I frowned.
Her explanation did not help at all. Whether he unlocked a hidden achievement, or whether it was through some other means… I was still unsure. For all I know, the skill could have been something innate, like how a person’s original stat distribution is innate, and wholly dependent on a person’s pre-apocalypse life style.
“...”
After thinking a few more useless thoughts regarding the subject, I could only let out a defeated sigh.
I turned back around to face the crowd, and going by the expressions written on their faces, the majority of them were thinking along the same strain of thought as I was. They all had similarly vexed and irritated expressions as they too tried to figure out how explosion girl’s skill originated.
Only Hina- who still wore the same absent minded expressions, and Cielle- who was still eagerly reading her skill book- were unaffected by the current problem that persisted within the room.
As my gaze wandered across the crowd, the momentarily landed on Kido. Prompted by Explosion girl’s story, I could not help but ask him, “Do you have any skills too, Kido?”
I narrowed my eyes as the words slipped out of my mouth. I was still fairly suspicious of him, after all, his group and him were the only other survivors from my old classroom. What’s more, the marks and injuries on the bodies within that classroom… they we’re all too suspicious.
Although I’ve only associated with Kido for less than a day (after the apocalypse), the blossoming emotions of suspicion was now in full bloom.
“Ah, I’ve got none.” Kido immediately answered, not a trace of hesitation within his voice. He shot me an embarrassed, and seemingly helpless smile, as he shrugged his shoulders, not bothering to explain any further.
“....” I stared for a moment, before I followed up and asked, “Then, what about titles?”
“I do-” He answered automatically, not even bothering to think about his response until it was already too late. As the words escaped his throat, he hastily covered his mouth and looked over guiltily towards me. After a brief exchange of glances, he allowed his hands to fall and sighed dejectedly.
As if he had already given up, he answered, “Well, truthfully, I do. Just… one. I have one title.”
I further narrowed my eyes. For the first time, there was an obvious change in the tone of his voice. Somber, dark, it was an emotion he never truly displayed up until now.
“What’s it called?”
“Ah, before that, what title does Hide have?”
“Hah?”
“I mean, you have a title too, don’t you? It’s pretty obvious, from the way you’re talking about it.”
“...”
“I’ll tell you about mine, if you tell me about yours.” His eyes folded into crescents as he smiled at me.
In return, my expressions, darkened. If we are talking about titles, then I have two. But, whether or not I want to disclose them….
“I do have a title. Just one.” I lied. “It’s called ‘Pioneer.’”
“Oh?” Kido widened his eyes in fascination. From my peripheral vision, I could see that everyone else’s attention had all zoomed in on our conversation. “What does it do?”
“I’ll tell, you after you tell me about your title.” I immediately responded.
“...” Kido grew quiet for a moment, and at the same time, and almost exactly at the same time, an uncomfortable feeling welled up within my mind. It was like a constant pulsing that originated from the back of my head, like a constant heart beat, only it grew more and more pronounced as time continued to pass.
Finally, after a moment of hesitation, Kido spoke, “Well, my title-” The pulsing, the pounding grew stronger. It was like a rhythmic drum, like a heartbeat, without a doubt, it was exactly like a heartbeat. “-It’s called, ‘hero’”.
Kido smiled, as he spoke, yet his smile was mechanical. I did not have any proof. After all, the smile he was making was identical to the usual expressions he wore. Yet, for some reason, I felt as if there was something off about that smile, and with that doubt, the pounding in my head, the heartbeat that thumbed uncontrollably only grew louder.
“That’s-” Before I could comment, I immediately frowned. The heartbeat in my mind was blown away, replaced by a sensation I had grown familiar with, throughout the night.
Almost immediately after, the door was hastily opened, and the fatty I had assigned as look out, came barreling into the room. His brow perspired with several beads of sweat, while a panic stricken expression colored his face.
“T-the monster!” He stammered uncontrollably while he panted heavily from exhaustion. “T-t-t-they’re back!”
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